Yielding pressure welding



All. 1, 1944. BL ETAL 2,354,983

YIELDING PRESSURE WELDING Original Filed Feb. 11, 1938 ZZ 719. .Z a? w gamma T0115 ashzrelfilww Arik nlffiiers Patented Aug. 1, 1944 YIELDING PRESSURE WELDING Gustave K. Blum and Arthur E. Peters, York, Pa., assignors to The McKay Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.. a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application February 11, 1938, Serial Nor 190,082, now Patent No. 2,301,173, dated November 10, 1942. Divided and this application January 10, 1942, SeriaLNo. 426,356

4 Claims. (01. 219-) This invention relates to yielding pressure welding and has for its object the provision of a method for making better welds with less current than is possible with ordinary welding.

A second object of the invention is to provide a method of welding links of chains, especially chain of high carbon or alloy steels, on a standard automatic chain welding machine with only slight alteration of the machine itself and providing more uniform and better welds while increasing very materially the'life of certain parts of the standard machin'e, particularly the electrodes and the trimmer mechanism.

A third object of the invention is to weld a chain automatically on a but slightly altered chain welding machine, the links of the finished .chain being much more nearly uniform in length than is possible with an ordinary chain welding machine whether manually operated or automatic.

A further object of the invention is to provide means in a chain welding machine for cutting of! the welding current in response not only to the yielding of the abutting ends but also to the bending of the back of the link.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fully automatic chain welding machine which stops the welding current in response to a desired condition including the temperature of the joint being welded and relatively independent of other factors such as time, current or voltage.

An important object of the invention is to provide a method of welding together opposed surfaces by a combination of a butt welding operation, a flash weldingoperation and a resistancewelding operation, this combination when applied to a standard chain making machine for instance providing a remarkably uniform finished chain because the method causes the machine to work with varying time cycles, each weld being given exactly the proper timing irrespective of whether the link is long or short.

In the ordinary manufacture of chains the welds are made by automatic machinery in case of the smaller chains of low carbon content but it is usual to weld the better grades of chain, particularly those of high carbon or alloy steels such higher upset than is provided by the standard chain welding machines now in use. We also felt that the standard machine could be speeded up by the use of higher transformer capacity which would give a quicker heat and it seemed to us this would lend itself nicely to the total elimination of the double stop which is common in practically as those containing nickel and molybdenum, by

manually operated machines wherein the workmen by long practice are able to press the clutch lever to open the welding circuit at precisely the right time, within the usual limits of human accuracy. Even with the very best of workmen however there is a sharp limit to the temperature that may be employed without burning" the all chain welding machines in actual use whether of manual or automatic type.

In the past there has been little trouble with the quality of the chain made with low carbon stock and we have frequently. tested such chain links by bending them through an angle of with the weld as an axis. With the better grades of chain now coming more and more into use many seemingly excellent welds will not stand a bending in thismanner, even as little as 45 and the characteristic weld cracks are almost invariably present in the better quality steels made prior to this invention but these cracks are strikingly absent when chain is made in the manner hereinafter set forth.

In the chain welding machines well known in the art the blocks carrying the electrodes are loosely mounted in their sockets and the vertical posts rising from the blocks are. rigidly held a chosen distance apart by a sturdy brace or strap pivotally secured to the top of each post so as to prevent the posts from spreading apart as they would otherwise do by reason of the necessary looseness of fit of the blocks in their pivot sockets, this looseness being necessary because of the expansion of the blocks due to the great heat which is unavoidably created in the blocks by the induced currents. A characteristic of the apparatus, which is but one form of carrying out our process, is that the brace or strap is replaced by spring means thereby the posts are yieldingly urged toward each other at their tops and in the preferred embodiment it is the movement of the post tops, as the metal of the chain yields, that causes the cutting ofi of the current at precisely the right time.

Among the more striking advantages of the present invention are:

(a) The better quality of each weld; Y

(b) The remarkable increase in uniformity in the gage length of the finished chain due to the I individual increasing the production in pounds per hour,

the latter increase running to rather surprising figures in view (9f the rather well-worked state of the art.

Other advantages are of relatively less importance and will be apparent as the description proceeds, for example, the fin or burr which is u made in our process of welding is appreciably less hard than with the standard welding machines with the result that the trimmer lasts longer than in the usual method of chain welding.

Figure 1 is a plan view of an automatic chain welding machine equipped with one embodiment of our invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of Figure 1 and to which a diagram is added to show the electrical circuits.

The chain welding machine shown in Figure 1 is generally of well known type comprising a table In on which is mounted at the rear the main shaft II which drives the chain advancing devices l4 by way of shafts l5, and oscillates the welding blocks ll toward and away from each other by means of the face cams is acting on the cam followers 19 carried by the ends of the arms ill rigidly secured to the welding blocks. Upper and lower swaging hammers are arranged to be driven by a cam 22 located between the two lace cams but to simplify the drawing the upper hammer is broken away to show more clearly the lower hammer24. At the front right end of the table there is shown the usual trimmer 28 for removing the burr or fin from the links as they come from the welding mechanism. A clutch connects the main shaft Ii with the drive pulley 3i by operation of the handle I: in well known manner.

The blocks 35 are loosely pivoted in sockets in the table i0 so as to turn about vertical axes passing through the posts 36 rising from the top of the blocks. The blocks carry the usual heavy copper electrodes 38 which may be adjusted toward or away from the link 40 by means 0! the adjusting screws 42.

The machine as briefly described is of well known standard make except that in the standard machine the posts ii are tied together at the top by means of a rigid bar or strap which while allowing rotation prevents the tops of the posts ll from moving away from each other as the blocks force the electrodes against the link in the welding action. In 'carrying out our invention we substitute for the rigid bar just mentioned a yoke consisting of two horizontal arms 44 and 48 pivoted at the front ends to a tie bar 48 and having journals just back of this bar for receiving the posts II. The rear ends of the arms are resiliently connected by a rather stiii'. spring 50. This yoke mechanism constitutes means for permitting the posts 36 to move toward and away from each other a limited amount during the welding operation.

A member 5| fixed to the arm 44 and projecting over the arm 48 carries an adjustable stop too far at the final-upset of the joint. A second member 54 also fixed to the arm 44 carries a second adjustable stop 5! limiting the closing movement of the arms.

These stops 52 and 56 are adjusted in accordance with the size and quality of the links of the chain being operated on and the adjustment may be changed merely by moving the screws 52 and 58.

The control switch mechanism is mounted on still a third member I which is also rigidly secured to the arm 44 as by means of cap screws II and which extends over the arm 48. A switch arm 63 depends from the end of the arm 60 with which it has a hinge-like connection I4 so that it can swing toward and away from a second switch arm (Fig. 2) projecting downward from the member ll on the opposite side of the arm 46. Adjustable contacts 61 and Cl, respectively, carried by the switch arms, are urged into contact by a spring I! but are normally separated when the yoke arms 44 and 40 move apart sufficiently to bring arm 4| into engagement with the set screw ll carried by the arm 61. Expressed in other words, when the arms 44 and 48 are spread apart as at the beginning of a welding operation the switch contacts are likewise held apart due to the set screw 1i engaging the arm 40 but as the welding proceeds the arms 44 and 48 gradually move toward each other and permit contacts 61 and I to come into quick engagement, thereby closing the control circuit through the clutch operating solenoid 13 as best shown in Figure 2. A part or all of the switch arms 63 and I are made of fibre composition or other insulating material.

Due to the fact that the yoke arms 44 and 4i are many times longer than the distance between a pivot II and the tie bar 4| and also due to the fact that the set screw II is positioned so close to the hinge 84, the slight relative motion of the posts 36 will be greatly multiplied so that extremely accurate adjustment may be made to open or close the control circuit at a precisely predetermined condition of the link ends. The movement of the posts 38 toward each other is so greatly multiplied that an operator, by observing the moyement oi the arms 44 and 48 is able to operate the clutch lever 32, if he likes, with the control circuit entirely disconnected thereby to open the work circuit at almost exactly the proper time and without in any way watching the weld. It will be seen thereiore that the yoke mechanism just described permits an accurate control of the weld in accordance with the condition of the entire link rather than the temperature, color, or appearance of the weld itself which indicia have been used in the past for guiding the operator in controlling the machine.

Referring to Figure 2, an understanding of the sequence of operations will easily be obtained.

The primary and secondary of the transformer are conventionally indicated at II and II respectively, the second being connected to the electrodes 3| which serve to complete the cir-' cult through the link 4.. The main switch ll is closed by the cam 84 on the shaft II and opened by the spring 85 upon the rotation of the cam 84; the shaft I5 being rotated when the clutch 3| is engaged by operation of the control handle 32 due to the energization of the solenoid 18 which, as already stated, occurs when the contacts i1 and ll first engage. The cam I4 is so I! for preventing the arms from spreading ap rt, 1! related to the switch 83 that as soon as the clutch engage the link 40 with less pressure than used in the standard machine, however with sufficient pressure to prevent burning where they make contact with the link. It will be assumed that the chain has been advanced by rotation of the shaft II to place an unwelded link 48 in position between the electrodes 38 and the seats 88 and that such rotation of the main shaft l I has turned the face cams l8 to spread the free ends of the arms which action turns the blocks about the pivots 38 and clamps the electrodes and seats 86 against the link with sufiicient force to press the ends of the link against each other. This rotation of the shaft II also brings the cam 84 into a position in which the main switch 83 is closed at approximately the same time as the link ends are pressed together so that at this moment the work current begins to flow through the link. When the link is cold it of course exerts the greatest resistance against the rotation of the blocks 35 toward each other and therefore at this time they exert the greatest force tending to separate the pivot posts 33 so that at the moment the current begins to fiow the ends of arms 44 and 48 are farthest apart in which position the contacts 81 and 88 are also most distantly separated. The distance apart of contacts 61 and 88 when regulated for the size of the link and the quality of the material of the link is fixed by the lock nuts HI. The moment the welding current begins to flow there is first a glow at the contact point between the link ends, the inside point then reddens and this spot grows around and toward the front of the link and then arcs appear which also increase until there is a momentary flashing all around the joint. The flashing is believed to be due to the use of a higher current in combination with the increase of resistance as the contacting ends fuse. The increase of resistance is partly due to the flowing away of the hot metal to create what is in effect an air gap by an almost complete pressure drop and is partly due to the increase in temperature of the metal. Immediately following this flashing the electrical resistance of the joint evidently reaches a maximum for the current flow through the back of the link increases sufficiently to heat the back of the link visibly, at which time the bend resistance in the link drops below the pressure on the link exerted by the spring 50 which bends the link and causes the now molten ends to merge into each other. The arms 44 and 48 move toward each other due to the heating and resultant bending of the link which motion brings the contacts 61 and 68 sharply together, thereby energizing the solenoid 13, and thus operating the clutch 30 causing the rotation of the shaft i l which substantially simultaneously opens the main circuit 83, and drops the swaging-hammers on the weld.

Still a third action occurs which is the final upset just prior to the swaging blow which upset is caused by the further spreading of the arms 20 due to the action of the swells 90 on the face cams l8. As previously pointed out we not only use a higher temperature than was possible on the standard machine but we also eliminate entirely the second dwell during the increased upset. The usual increase from initial to final upset is about an eighth of an inch on the face cam but we increase the final upset while keeping the size of the initial upset during the swell as in prior practice, the increase of upset from initial to final (without dwell) being roughly a third of an inch on the face cam 20, readily obtained by securing to the cam a fiat strip bevelled at its two ends. The clutch 30 is as usual automatic so that immediately after the closing of the main shaft cycle ending with the closing of the switch 83 the clutch automatically opens thus permitting th followers l8 to rest against the now stationary initial upset swells of the face cams. It will of course be understood that the trimmer 26 operates in its usual manner to remove the burrs which in the process Just described are very much softer than in ordinary chain and therefore more easily out than would be expected in high carbon and alloy steels for which this method was developed as has Just been described.

It will be understood that since the control circuit is dependent for current on the closing of the switch 83 that shortly after the contacts 81 and 68 engage, the control circuit is de-ener gized and that the operating handle 32 is immediately restored to inoperative position by the usual spring 88 whereby the automatic declutching mechanism is permitted to operate to stop the main shaft i l at the proper point.

It is well understood in the chain making art that as the links come from the forming machine, although apparently quite uniform, the individual links are in fact sufiiciently different in length to require an appreciably difi'erent amount of current and a different amount of time to form the proper weld and it is for this reason that the automatic control should be responsive to the condition of the weld and link as a whole rather than to any predetermined time of current flow or other observable factor such as color or yield of the weld per se. The condition of the link and weld is a resultant of all these factors. In the process we have just described for any given size of link as delivered by the forming machine, the links are all welded uniformly and are made much more uniform in length than was possibleby any prior known method.

In the. manually controlled machine not equipped with our improved yoke the operator depended on the time of current flow and/or the color and condition of the weld to guide him in operating the clutch 32. Under such conditions the back of a long link would be relatively cold at the time the weld gave every indication of being complete so that the operator would cut ofi the welding current and leave the link under a strain which upon cooling would cause cracks at the weld which cracks open up when the link is bent 45 to about an axis through the weld. On the other hand a short" link would get too hot at the weld with the same result that cracks would form. It is also obvious that different operators would have different times of reaction so that the welding current would be out off at appreciably different points in the welding process with the result that the chains made by one operator would be quite different in quality and uniformity from those made by another operator. However. the non-uniformity of the finished link was not due entirely to the operator but the cause lay in the prior machines which were set to operate for a certain size link and had no provision, such as our yoke, for operating uniformly on links which varied in length over an appreciable range for any given size delivered by the forming 4 i 1 assaosa.

machine. In the process we have describedthe chains are of uniform quality and the links are 01 uniform length regardless of whether made by the same or different operators. In other words by our new process we have reduced to a minimum those factors which tend to produce poor or nonuniform chains.

This case is a division of our application Serial No. 190,082, tiled February 11, 1938 (now Patent No. 2,301,173 dated November 10, 1942) What we claim is:

1. The method oi welding abutting pieces of metal comprising pressing the pieces together with a predetermined pressure including a yielding follow-up pressure, resisting said pressure with a force, passing welding current through the abutting pieces until the contacting surfaces reach a yielding condition and said resisting force receives the greater portion of said predetermined pressure, reducing said resisting force in proportion to the yielding condition of the abutting pieces under action of said follow-up pressure and finally at a chosen point of yield stopping the flow of welding current and substantially simul-' taneously upsetting said Joint and delivering a swaging blow to said weld.

2. The method of welding a chain comprising applying a. pressure to a link sui'llcient to press the open ends together but insuflicient to bend the back of the link, passing an electric current through the link at the Joint until the contacting ends are molten then continuing the current until the back of the link is raised to a temperature at which said pressure bends the-link and forces the molten ends into each other then cutting oi! the current and applying a swaging blow to the Joint.

3. The method of welding a link comprising torcing the open ends together with a force insuiiicient to bend the back of the link when cold, fusing the connecting ends and at the same time heating the back of the link until said pressure bends said back of the link and forces the (using ends closer together and finally applying an upset pressure to the link and simultaneously applying a swaglng blow to the joint.

4. The method or welding two bar ends or a given cross section which comprises holding said' GUBTAVE K. BLUM. ARTHUR E. PETERS. 

